The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1887-01-15
ROOTS FOR STOCK.
The Proper Way of Preserving Them for
Use in Winter and Spring.

ueNcu DN many 10 Dc NlOhpOl lOoN "'lN
to make richer milk than roots. This,
however, is questioned by some excel
lent feeders. The difference in cost
between an equal value of feed in en-
silage and roots is not much, and a
modification of circumstances may
make one or the other the cheaper
food. As a green food for mich cows,
either may be a substitute for the
other, 1ut their continued use upon the
health of stock and upon the quality
of milk can hardly be considered
Identical Roots are food in its natural
state, but ensilage can hardly
be so considered 1t is,
of necessity, altered by fermenta-
ton. Its carbohydrates are partially
burned and altered by the conversion
of starch and sugar into acid, and its
albuminoids are more or less broken
up by furnishing food for bacteria,
and by decomposition from
oxidation, and its mineral con-
stituents must evidently be altered ma
terially by a change in the juices in
which they are dissolved from neu-
trail to a strongly acid condition. But
ensilage is succulent and easy of digest
ion, and by judicious discrimination
in the selection of material for the silo,
it may be made to produce more and
richer milk than roots, but both are
more proitably fed in connection with
more heterogeneous food than when used
alone. For breeding stock and for fur
nishing milk in the most wholesome
condition for the use of invalids and
infants, roots, by supplying food in a
perfectly natural and unaltered state,
are to be preferred to any fermented
food. They are also especially valua-
bic as an appetizer and a hcalth-in-
spring food in the season of dry fodder,
and should not be dropped out of the
winter diet for dairy cows even where
ensilage is used. With q little care and
labor they are easily preserved so as to
be convenient for use ut any time in the
winter.
The best arrangement for storing
roots for stock in winter is large cell
lar adjacent to q stable in the basement
of cow-barn or stable for other stock.
1t is important that a root-cellar should
not be wanting in size, for if it is, the
vegetables will be very sure to warm
up and decay. All kinds of green
roots, green fruit and green vegetation
of every sort undergo slow but steady
change if exposed to the air at any
temperature much above freezing.
The corroding tendency of the free
oxygen in the air, by its strong affinity
for carbon, causes it to combine with
the carbon in the carbohydrates not
only, but also with the carbon in the
proteine or flesh-forming compounds
of green vegetation, converting the
carbon into carbonic acid gas. The
production of this gas is always accom-
panied with the development of heat
according to the amount of gas formed,
The heat generated in pile of fresh
roots is considerable. 1t is so much
) that the space in which they are stored
if too contracted, soon becomes apprec-
iably warmer, which serves not only tC
hasten the process of oxidation, but
hastens decay as well. A root-cellar
therefore, should have ample space
so that the heat generated shall moi
l be confined to the roots, but have room
; by current of air to be distribute,
? through the whole Enclosure, and b.
means of ventilation carried out ant
colder air take its place. The close
+ the temperature of the cellar approache
8 to freezing, the slower will be bot
oxidation and decay. Unless it is low
l the shrinkage of roots in an airy room
y from evaporation and oxidation to
gether, is considerable 1t will easil
run from twenty-five to thirty-fve pc
u cent. in the course of a winter. S
> much of this shrinkage is due to evaT
Grafton that the roots are continual
. growing richer in proportion to bull
a and weight. But good circulation G
air is essential to preservation unles
the rootS are Kept cold by contact wit
3 damp earth, as when buried. A store
II room for roots should have ample cor
y nection with the outside air in earl
9 winter, but susceptible of being graC
: ually closed up as freezing weathC
5 comes on, and if need be in extrcm
y weather, to have an open connectio
: with an adjacent stable that the he;
u radiating from the stock may prcvcl
: freezing With such an arrangement
p roots can be fed with best advantage
g as they are safe for preservation or L
IS use at any time the feeder may prefe
g National LiUe-Stoc5 Journal.
. "A patent has been obtained by
= gentleman of San Francisco for what
= claimed to be a fire and collision-pro,
! railway car. 1t is made wholly of ire
= and steel, and the weight will rans
% from sixteen to twenty tons fl